謂性 能終索 學 則 也道之者用有善無 修謂 之率 之得讀窮 有焉者皆於合 不則玩實密卷 the universe; roll it up, and it retires and lies hid in mysteriousness. The relish of it is inexhaustible. The whole of it is solid learning. When the skilful reader has explored it with delight till he has apprehended it, he may carry it into practice all his life, and will find that it cannot be exhausted.' CHAPTER I. 1. What Heaven has conferred is called THE NATURE; an accordance with this nature is called THE PATH of duty; the regulation of this path is called INSTRUCTION. not here anticipate the judgment of the reader on the eulogy of the enthusiastic Ch'ăng. ing of the term in chap. ii, and my own opinion is decidedly in favour of it, here in the title. The work then treats of the human mind :-in 1. It has been stated, in the prolegomena, its state of chung, absolutely correct, as it is in that the current division of the Chung Yung itself; and in its state of hwo, or harmony, into chapters was made by Chû Hsî, as well as acting ad extra, according to its correct nature. their subdivision into paragraphs. The thirty–In the version of the work, given in the cold three chapters which embrace the work, are lection of 'Memoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, again arranged by him in five divisions, as will &c., des Chinois,' vol. i, it is styled-Juste Milieu.' be seen from his supplementary notes. The Rémusat calls it 'L'invariable Milieu,' after Ch'ǎng first and last chapters are complete in them1. Intorcetta and his coadjutors call it-Me-selves, as in the introduction and conclusion of dium constans vel sempiternum.' The Book treats, the treatise. The second part contains ten chapthey say, 'De MEDIO SEMPITERNO, sive de aurea ters; the third, nine; and the fourth, twelve. mediocritate illa, quæ est, ut ait Cicero, inter nimium Par. 1. The principles of duty have their root in the et parum, constanter et omnibus in rebus tenenda.' evidenced will of Heaven, and their full exhibition in Morrison, character 庸, says, ‘Chung Yung, the the teaching of sages. By性, or ‘nature,' is to constant (golden) Medium. Collie calls it would appear as if 中 were a noin, and 庸 a be understood the nature of man, though Chû Hsi generalizes it so as to embrace that of brutes also; but only man can be cognizant of the tão and chiáo. he defines by 合,‘to qualifying adjective, whereas they are co-or- command,' 'to order." But we must take it as dinate terms. My own version of the title in in a gloss on a passage from the Yi-ching, the translation published in the Sacred Books of the East is, 'The State of Equilibrium and Har "mony.’ quoted in the dictionary.一命者人所 禀受,‘Ming is what men are endowed with.. Chû also says that 性 is just 理, the ‘principle,' characteristic of any particular nature. But this only involves the subject in mystery. His explanation of 道by 路, ‘a path, seems introductory note to the. On Tszesze, and his authorship of this work, see the prolegomena. 六合 is a phrase denoting -'the zenith and nadir, and the four cardinal to be correct, though some modern writers object to it.-What is taught seems to be this : points,' = the universe. 善讀者,notour To man belongs a moral nature, conferred on 'good reader,' but as in the translation.-I will him by Heaven or God, by which he is consti 故見懼慎道須 君乎乎乎也,更 中哀子 子隱其其是離 天下之大本也和 節謂之和中也者 謂之中發而皆中 樂慎 莫所所故也 顯不不君可 獨乎聞子離 和者中發也。微莫恐戒非 2. The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path. On this account, the superior man does not wait till he sees things, to be cautious, nor till he hears things, to be apprehensive. 3. There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone. When 4. While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in the state of EQUILIBRIUM. those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state of HARMONY. This EQUILIBRIUM is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this HARMONY is the universal path which they all should pursue. tuted a law to himself. But as he is prone to deviate from the path in which, according to his nature, he should go, wise and good men sages-have appeared, to explain and regulate ought not to be understood passively, = (where he is not seen,' ' where he is not heard. They are so understood by Ying-ta, this, helping all by their instructions to walk and the 大學傳, chap.vi, is much in favour, in it. Par. 2. The path indicated by the nature may never be left, and the superior man- 體道之人, by its analogy, of such an interpretation. he who would embody all principles of right and duty -exercises a most sedulous care that he may attain that is the place which other men do not thereto. 須臾 is a name for a short period of time, of which there are thirty in the twentyfour hours; but the phrase is commonly used for ‘a moment,’'an instant.' K'ung Ying-ta explains 可離非道, what may be left is a wrong way, which is not admissible. 離,4th tone, = 去, to be, or go, away from.’ If we translate the two last clauses literally, know, and is known only to one's self.' There the last paragraph. It seems to me that the would thus hardly be here any advance from secrecy must be in the recesses of one's own heart, and the minute things, the springs of thought and stirrings of purpose there. "The full development of what is intended here is probably to be found in all the subsequent pas sages about or‘sincerity.’See西河 ‘is cautious and careful in regard to what'he 合集, 中庸 說 in lot. does not see; is fearful and apprehensive in re Par. 4. (This,' says Chi Hsi, ‘speaks of the gard to what he does not hear,'-they will not virtue of the nature and passions, to illustrate be intelligible to an English reader. A question the meaning of the statement that the path may arises, moreover, whether 其所不睹, not be left. It is difficult to translate the para 和也 欲學者於此反求諸身 於言聖神功化之極蓋 離次言存養省察之 實體備於已而不可 太原出於天而不可 之意以立言首明道之 右第一章子思述所傳 和天地位焉萬物育焉 也者天下之達道也致中 身蓋 易 明述育也。 道所焉 致 之傳 5. Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish. In the first chapter which is given above, Tsze-sze states the views which had been handed down to him, as the basis of his discourse. First, it shows clearly how the path of duty is to be traced to its origin in Heaven, and is unchangeable, while the substance of it is provided in ourselves, and may not be departed from. Next, it speaks of the importance of preserving and nourishing this, and of exercising a watchful self-scrutiny with reference to it. Finally, it speaks of the meritorious achievements and transforming influence of sage and spiritual men in their highest extent. The wish of Tsze-sze was that hereby the learner should direct his thoughts inwards, and by searching in himself, there find these graph because it is difficult to understand it. | universum, quod homo vitiatus quodam modo vitiarat, 謂之 is different from 之謂 in par. I. That defines; this describes. What is described in the first clause, seems to be 性, the nature,' capable of all feelings, but unacted on, and in equilibrium. connaturali suæ integritati et ordini restitui, nisi prius ipse homo per victoriam sui ipsius, eam, quam amiserat, integritatem et ordinem recuperaret.' I fancied something of the same kind, before reading their note. According to Chú Hsi, the paragraph describes the work and influence of sage and spiritual men in their highest issues. The subject is developed in the 4th part of the work, in very extravagant and mystical language. The study of it will modify very much our assent to the views in the above passage. There is in this whole chapter a mixture of sense and Par.5. On this Intorcetta and his colleagues observe:-'Quis non videt eo dumtaxat collimasse philosophum, ut hominis naturam, quam ab origine sua rectam, sed deinde lapsam et depravatam passim Sinenses docent, ad primævum innocentice statum reduceret? Atque ita reliquas res creatas, homini jam rebelles, et in ejusdem ruinam armatas, ad pristinum mysticism,—of what may be grasped, and what obsequium veluti revocaret. Hoc caput primum libri tantalizes and eludes the mind., accordTa Heo, hoc item hic et alibi non semel indicat. Elsi autem nesciret philosophus nos a prima felicitate ing to Chù Hsi, =安其位,(will rest in their propter peccatum primi parentis excidisse, tamen et tot rerum que adversantur et infesta sunt homini, et positions.' K'ang-ch'ăng explained it by正 ipsius naturæ humanæ ad deteriora tam pronæ, longo usu et contemplatione didicisse videtur, non posse hoc -'will be rectified.' 'Heaven and earth' are here the parent powers of the universe. Thus VOL. I. 小子反 中仲之引是楊之而 而時庸義夫 也氏 中君 君曰 也。之 子 君 中 中庸 庸庸 庸也小 引夫子之言以將此章 章篇 之私而充其本然之美 而自得之以去夫外誘 章思 思要善誘 truths, so that he might put aside all outward temptations appealing to his selfishness, and fill up the measure of the goodness which is natural to him. This chapter is what the writer Yang called it,— The sum of the whole work.' In the ten chapters which follow, Tsze-sze quotes the words of the Master to complete the meaning of this. CHAP. II. I. Chung-ni said, 'The superior man embodies the course of the Mean; the mean man acts contrary to the course of the Mean. 2. The superior man's embodying the course of the Mean is because he is a superior man, and so always maintains the Mean. The mean man's acting contrary to the course of the Mean is because he is a mean man, and has no caution.' Ying-tâ expounds :-'Heaven and earth will | probable on the strength of this instance, and get their correct place, and the processes of pro- that in chap. xxx. Others say that it is the honorary designation of the sage, and the duction and completion will go on according to their principles, so that all things will be nourished and fostered.' CONCLUDING NOTE. The writer Yang, A. D. 1053-1135, quoted here, was a distinguished 哎, which duke Âi used in reference to Con fucius, in eulogizing him after his death. See the Li Chî, II. Sect. I. iii. 44. Some verb must be scholar and author in the Sung dynasty. He understood between 君子and中庸, and I was a disciple of Ch'ăng Hào, and a friend both of him and his brother Î.體要‘the sub- have supposed it to be 體, with most of the stance and the abstract,'=the sum. 2. ONLY THE SUPERIOR MAN CAN FOLLOW THE paraphrasts. Nearly all seem to be agreed that 中庸 here is the same as 中和in the last MEAN; THE MEAN MAN IS ALWAYS VIOLATING IT. chapter. On the change of terms, Chû Hsi 1. Why Confucius should here be quoted by his designation, or marriage name, is a moot-point. quotes from the scholar Yû (), to the effect It is said by some that disciples might in this that is said with the nature and feelway refer to their teacher, and a grandson to his grandfather, but such a rule is constituted ings in view, and, with reference to 味不肯之道過 也。飲者 者矣 之 食 不 賢不愚知日民 CHAP. III. The Master said, 'Perfect is the virtue which is according to the Mean! Rare have they long been among the people, who could practise it!’ CHAP. IV. 1. The Master said, 'I know how it is that the path of the Mean is not walked in:-The knowing go beyond it, and the stupid do not come up to it. I know how it is that the path of the Mean is not understood:-The men of talents and virtue go beyond it, and the worthless do not come up to it. 2. There is no body but eats and drinks. But they are few who can distinguish flavours.' virtue and conduct. 2. 君子而時中 The change from 仲尼日 to子日 is is explained by Chû:-'Because he has the observable. virtue of a superior man, and moreover is able 4. How IT WAS THAT FEW WERE ABLE TO PRAC always to manage the chung.' But I rather think that the chün-tsze here is specially to be |TISE THE MEAN. I. 道 may be referred to the referred to the same as described in I. ii, and in the first chapter; immediately follow 中正中.Wang Sû, the famous scholar of the Wei (魏) dynasty, in the first part of the third century, quotes 小人之中庸 ing 中庸 in the last, I translate it here(the path of the Mean.’知者and賢者 are not to be understood as meaning the truly with before, of which Chu Hsi ap-wise and the truly worthy, but only those who proves. If be not introduced into the text, M, in I. ii.— in the degenerate times of Confucius deemed themselves to be such. The former thought the course of the Mean not worth their study, and the latter thought it not sufficiently ex ii.alted is | alted for their practice. 背‘as,'like.’不 This, and the ten chapters which follow, all quote the words of Confucius with reference following, indicates individuals of a 2. We to the, to explain the meaning of the different character, not equal to them. first chapter; and though there is no conhave here not a comparison, but an illustranexion of composition between them,' says Chû tion, which may help to an understanding of the former paragraph, though it does not seem Hsi, 'they are all related by their meaning.’ 8. THE RARITY, LONG EXISTING IN CONFUCIUS's very apt. People do not know the true flavour of what they eat and drink, but they need not TIME, OF THE PRACTICE OF THE MEAN. See the go beyond that to learn it. So the Mean belongs Analects, VI. xxvii. K'ang-ch'ăng and Ying-ta to all the actions of ordinary life, and might be take the last clause as='few can practise it discerned and practised in them, without look long.' But the view in the translation is better. ing for it in extraordinary things. |